


Selfish

by Lorz



Category: Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-31
Updated: 2013-01-31
Packaged: 2017-11-27 17:47:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/664714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lorz/pseuds/Lorz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bilbo Baggins is a selfish hobbit. He's quite aware of it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Selfish

Bilbo Baggins was a very selfish hobbit. At least, he considered himself to be selfish. Some others disagreed, some agreed. His sister would most certainly have been among those that agreed he was a selfish hobbit. He cared for himself and his hobbit hole and _his precious_. 

Perhaps it was simply to spite his sister (which, in fact was not a very hobbit like thing to do at all) or perhaps it was because of some nostalgic memories he had from when they were growing up (not that hobbits had very much to grow, they were tiny creatures) but Bilbo Baggins decided to do something that was not very selfish at all. Even he was unsure if it was because he wished to prove his sister wrong, but the little hobbit had more important things to think about as he carried his nephew over the threshold of his home. 

Frodo was not much more than a babe – ten winters if he remembered correctly. Not that Bilbo paid much attention to his sister, her husband and their child, for he was a very selfish hobbit indeed. He cared no more for the hobbit child than he did for the Tooks’ new babe, Perry something or other, it was simply the principle of the thing. 

His nephew stared up at him with wide eyes that were red rimmed and (as Bilbo noticed with alarm) filling with yet more tears. The hobbit had already seen him spill more than his fair share of those, thank you very much, and he didn’t wish to see any more of them. The child would just have to learn to understand that his - 

“Motha! Motha!”

“Oh dear. Frodo, my dear nephew, your mother has moved onto her next adventure.”

He didn’t want to be forced to explain death to his young nephew. Not that he truly cared, of course. Bilbo Baggins was a very selfish hobbit, and he was well aware of that fact. 

“Adventure? Uncle Bilbo, I want to go with motha on her adventure! I want to go on an –“

“Now, now, none of that.”

Bilbo placed Frodo on his grandmother’s chair and busied himself with the tea pot and supper. Frodo would become hungry soon, best to make the supper before that happened. Not that Bilbo was truly concerned, for he was a selfish hobbit who thought of no one or thing except for himself, his hobbit hole and _his precious_. 

“You’re much too young for an adventure of your own. Perhaps when you’re older. You know, I had an adventure of my own before. Unlike your mother I returned but it was a very close shave… involved dragons, m’boy! Dragons! I remember hearing tails of a young dwarf named Gimli who wanted to accompany us – wanted his own adventure like you, you see – but he too was far too young to be exposed to such danger. “

Bilbo continued to speak as he cooked, and Frodo continued to sit in his grandmother’s chair and watched him with those wide and red rimmed eyes that eventually didn’t look to be full of tears anymore. By the time Bilbo was finishing the story of his adventure and was serving Frodo his dinner there was no doubt that his nephew’s gaze contained adoration, but Bilbo ignored it and ordered him to eat up because it was almost time for him to go to bed. Luckily his nephew obeyed him and ate his food and it wasn’t long before Bilbo was helping him into one of his spare shirts and into bed. 

“Uncle Bilbo.”

“Yes, m’boy?”

Frodo yawned and snuggled back into the pillow (real feathers, not the fake stuff Mrs. Boggals was always trying to sell him) as he sleepily voiced his thoughts. 

“Mayb’ when I’m old enough to go on my own adventure, Gimli can come too?”

Bilbo swallowed around the little smile that was dancing on his lips, and placed a light kiss on Frodo’s forehead. 

“Maybe my’boy, maybe.”

Minutes later when Bilbo Baggins sat in his chair into front of the fire with tears rolling down his face, he thought about how perhaps he wasn’t such a selfish hobbit after all. He also thought about how his sister had always sent several of their best tomatoes over to his hobbit hole every year, and realised that perhaps she had sent for him because she too had known that Bilbo Baggins wasn’t such a selfish hobbit after all and that he could think of something other than _his precious_.


End file.
